Italian director Luca Guadagnino is becoming a Venice Film Festival darling, returning to the festival after Suspiria (2018), with a film that festival director Alberto Barbera is calling his best so far, Bones and All with Timothée Chalamet. It is driving the young fans crazy and attracting the biggest crowds so far.

Guadagnino, 51 years old, known for the Oscar and Golden Globes-nominated film Call Me By Your Name, spoke predominantly in Italian at the crowded press conference with his actors, producers and screenwriter. The film is entirely shot in English in the US and is an Italian American production.

“Since I was a kid, I thought a lot about the imagination of American cinema which has profoundly influenced and formed me,” Guadagnino said during the press conference. “I believe I always had to put off the moment to make a film in the United States probably because I needed a more mature perspective. Bones and All was born almost casually, one of those unexpected moments which make my friendship with screenwriter Dave Kajganich, who had worked with me on A Bigger Splash and Suspiria, so significant and beautiful. Dave had been working on this script, he asked me to read it, and I wanted to tell the story of these drifters who look for the possible in the impossible. It was teamwork, and by team, I mean the family represented by the people with whom I have been working for years. Who are extraordinary artists. They are the ones who give me my point of light, my hope. My work is deeply collective. To make movies is a privilege, and I am very conscious of it.”  

When asked what place Bones and All occupies in his cinematography, Guadagnino said, “It is difficult to respond to this question because I have clearly not resolved it yet. If I knew who I was, perhaps I would be bored by myself. The best I can hope is, on one hand, to have control over the work I do, and on the other, to let myself go to the absolute pleasure to work with friends and people who are now part of my family. So now I am very satisfied because to have this kind of result in my work is pretty good.” 

“The soundtrack is from different players including Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross,” Guadagnino continued. “It is my first collaboration with master composer legends The Kiss. When I approached them, the discussion was all about finding the sound of a road trip and the sound of the American landscape, and the guitar, the idea that an individual can make it in America was the base of that music. I wanted to go very romantic with the music. There is something about the kiss scene in the film which I wanted to be very sweet and romantic, off the center, and the music should reflect that.”